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AI in Language Teaching, Learning, and Assessment (2024), edited by Fang Pan, offers a comprehensive and insightful exploration of how artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping language education. The book is thoughtfully divided into three well-structured sections Preview, Perspectives, and Practice, each addressing essential dimensions of AI integration. In the Preview section, Pan examines AI's transformative role in enhancing educational delivery and personalizing learning experiences, paving the way for greater efficiency and accessibility. Subsequently, the Perspectives section collates diverse global viewpoints that critically address challenges such as algorithmic bias, data privacy, and equity concerns. Finally, the Practice section offers evidence-based case studies, showcasing tangible innovations such as adaptive tutoring systems and AI-powered assessment tools, which have demonstrated real-world impact. More importantly, Pan strikes an impressive balance between highlighting AI's vast potential and scrutinizing its ethical and practical complexities. By combining theoretical perspectives, empirical findings, and practical applications, this book stands as an essential resource for educators, researchers, and policymakers, aiming to navigate AI-driven developments in language education with both responsibility and clarity.

Motivational intensity and enjoyment are considered two incentives that boost Willingness To Communicate (WTC), while boredom diminishes it. However, going through the existing literature, almost no studies have ever explored these interrelationships among the four variables -Boredom, WTC, Enjoyment, and Motivational Intensity- in the Iranian setting. To address this gap, 300 high schoolers between the ages of 11 and 19 took part in the study. Of those, 83 were beginners, 107 were intermediates, and 110 were advanced learners based on the results obtained from OPT (Oxford Placement Test). All the participants were surveyed using questionnaires administered via Google Docs. The study used Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) to interpret these statistics, revealing mediation effects and showing direct and total effects between motivational intensity, enjoyment, boredom, and WTC. Statistics confirmed that boredom had a notable direct impact on WTC, though its indirect effect through enjoyment was insignificant. In contrast, motivational intensity positively influenced the WTC through both direct and indirect pathways. The study suggests boosting motivation and enjoyment in second-language classrooms would dramatically enhance the learners' WTC in formal and informal settings. Teachers should be initiative and creative in designing fascinating and new classroom tasks, transform the class into a lively environment in which all students are actively involved in the interesting classroom activities in a relaxed manner, and promote a friendly and humorous group-work atmosphere so that classroom becomes a welcoming space where students learn without boredom or anxiety.

Drawing on investigations conducted on the relative adequacy of the various types of scaffolding strategies in SL/FL learning, this study investigated the relative efficacy of “formal practice” as a cognitive scaffolding strategy, “reflection and monitoring” as metacognitive scaffolding strategies, and “note-taking” as a cognitive non-scaffolding strategy for the EFL learners’ listening comprehension development. To this aim, a total of 90 EFL students from two different language institutes in Dorood (Lorestan province, central Iran) were chosen using convenience sampling procedure. The sample was conveniently assigned into three groups of 30 EFL learners and the relevant treatments were given to the groups for 15 sessions. The statistical analyses indicated that reflection and monitoring metacognitive scaffolding strategies significantly enhanced the listening comprehension development of EFL learners. As for the qualitative phase, the most frequent types of cognitive and metacognitive scaffolding strategies applied by the peers and teachers were explored through a semi-structured interview. The content analysis of the interview data indicated that the learners and teachers found reflection and monitoring scaffolding strategies as the most frequently used and effective procedures. An implication of the findings might be that in comparison to cognitive scaffolding and non-scaffolding strategies, metacognitive scaffolding strategies are empirically verified and attitudinally confirmed to be quite efficacious for the development of listening comprehension among EFL learners in an emotionally positive and constructive atmosphere.

Prior research demonstrates that flipped approach in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom positively affects learners' achievement. However, the way learners with distinct cognitive styles respond to this method remains less unexplored. This study examines the effect of flipped classroom instruction on grammar learning of Iranian EFL beginners at Iran Language Institute in Tabriz, Iran with different cognitive styles, i.e., field dependent (FD), field independent (FI), and field neutral (FN). A convenience sample of two groups in five classes taught by the same teacher were given a Group Embedded Figures Test to identify their cognitive styles, and a Grammar pre-test and posttest to measure their grammar achievement. Learners in the flipped classes watched videoed lessons of grammar via an application prior to each session. Inside the class, they briefly reviewed the videos and were engaged in interactive activities. Learners in the control group were taught grammar based on their regular syllabus which involved strings of instruction, practice and homework assignment. A two-way ANCOVA revealed that FI learners in flipped classes outperformed their non-flipped counterparts, while FD learners in non-flipped classes performed better compared to FI learners, demonstrating an interaction between cognitive style and the type of instruction. Learners identified as FN performed moderately well in both settings. Overall, flipped classroom led to better grammar achievement. The findings attest to the dynamicity involved in the functioning of flipped instruction. It is suggested that pedagogical variations, individual characteristics, and grammar assessment procedures be taken into account in designing and implementing flipped classrooms. 

A thorough literature review revealed that employing a corpus-based approach in language pedagogy remains largely unknown to most foreign language teachers in the Iranian context. Relying on a sequential exploratory mixed-methods study, the present researchers developed and validated an interview guide and conducted interviews with 20 Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) experts (i.e., teacher trainers), 20 in-service teachers at high schools, and 20 pre-service teachers to find how they would employ Corpus-Based Language Pedagogy (CBLP) in their work. Then, the researchers employed a researcher-made and validated CBLP scale to elicit the perceptions of 30 teacher educators, 118 pre-service, and 147 in-service EFL teachers about employing CBLP in their work. The interview data were analyzed through content analysis revealing that CBLP could be used in teaching language assessment, learning technological knowledge, and developing teaching materials. Multivariate ANOVA (MANOVA) was used to analyze the quantitative data revealing discrepancies among the perceptions of the three groups of in-service teachers, teacher educators, and pre-service teachers with regard to employ CBLP in their work. The findings can be used to develop a specific course aiming at enriching CBLP for language teachers in the Iranian EFL teacher education programs.

Textbook evaluations help select the best textbook by highlighting its potential strengths and weaknesses. This study aimed to determine whether George Yule’s Advanced Oxford Practical Grammar remained relevant as a compulsory textbook for the first-year English-majored students at Van Lang University, Vietnam. Questionnaire and interview were served as the main research instruments with the participation of the thirty experienced English instructors. The findings demonstrated how well-suited the textbook was for tertiary students in terms of teaching grammar in a practical setting. The thoughtful application of additional grammar exercises and the connection of more pertinent contexts to communicate grammatical points and structures were two other suggested enhancements. Even though the textbook covered the most crucial grammatical topics for advanced learners with a plethora of examples and hands-on exercises, the participants pointed out some complex and unusual grammatical usage that might need to be revised. Particularly, suggestions called for more additional and interactive activities and tasks.

This quantitative, causal-comparative study investigated differences in Syllabus Design Knowledge (SDK) between novice and experienced Iranian EFL teachers in public high schools and private language institutes. A sample of 120 EFL teachers, stratified into four equal groups (novice/experienced x public/private), completed a validated Syllabus Design Knowledge Test (SDKT). This 33-item instrument measured overall SDK and three related domains of SDK: theoretical/conceptual knowledge, knowledge of syllabus types, and knowledge of technical terminology. Data were analyzed using a set of two-way ANOVAS. The results revealed that both teaching experience and working in a private institute had significant, positive effects on EFL teachers’ overall SDK and their specific knowledge of different types of syllabi. By contrast, no statistically significant differences were found for theoretical/ conceptual knowledge or knowledge of technical terminology based on either experience or educational setting. The findings suggest that practical, context-driven experience in private institutes significantly enhances specific aspects of pedagogical content knowledge, while other, more theoretical components may be equally developed regardless of experience and educational setting. It is concluded that SDK is a complex construct, shaped by teaching experience and influenced by the specific institutional context.

This study investigated the effect of collaborative learning (CL) and scaffolding strategies through the Learning Management System (LMS) on EFL students’ writing performance. Employing an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design, 180 upper-intermediate EFL learners (90 undergraduates and 90 postgraduates) from four universities in Isfahan were selected via convenience sampling. The quantitative phase used a pretest-posttest non-equivalent control group design. One experimental group received CL-based instruction via LMS, the other applied scaffolding strategies through LMS, while the control group used traditional methods. All groups attended 14 weekly 90-minute sessions. Quantitative results (one-way ANCOVA) indicated that both CL (p = .000, p < .05) and scaffolding (p = .01, p < .05) significantly improved writing skills, with CL being more effective than scaffolding (p = .02, p < .05). The qualitative phase, using thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews, revealed five key themes: digital and technological literacy, instructional quality, infrastructure, assessment, and satisfaction.

The dominant view of early English Qur’an translations as uniformly literal has obscured significant strategic and ideological diversity, particularly in the handling of metonymic expressions. This study examines how Abdullah Yusuf Ali, Marmaduke Pickthall, and Mohammed Habib Shakir have rendered 50 Quranic verses that contain clear metonymies. Using a qualitative comparative design, metonymies were classified by cognitive type, and translation strategies were coded as preservation of the original vehicle, sense-for-sense replacement, hybrid explicitation, or deletion. Analysis of 150 renderings revealed that, while preservation predominated overall (52.7%), translators diverged sharply. Pickthall preserved the source vehicle in 70% of cases, Shakir in 52%, and Yusuf Ali in only 36%, preferring sense rendering (50%). Strategic choices aligned closely with translator habitus (devotional literalism, reformist rationalization, Azhari pragmatism) and formed a consistent theological-sensitivity hierarchy; divine attributes were almost universally retained, human-submission expressions unanimously domesticated, and cause-effect idioms produced the clearest ideological split. These findings challenge the monolithic literalist narrative, demonstrate translator ideology as the primary driver of cognitive continuity or disruption, and provide a framework for future analyses of figurative language in sacred-text translation.

The article approaches Hollywood remakes of foreign films as intersemiotic translation. Analysing one selected film pair—Seven Samurai (1954) / The Magnificent Seven (2016), the study employed a two-phase methodology consisting of Description-Comparison (phase 1) and Interpretation (phase 2). The first phase identifies shifts in plot structure, narrative techniques, characterisation, and setting, while the second phase interprets those identified shifts through three main lenses: economic motivations (market-driven localisation), creative reinterpretations (auteurist vision), and socio-cultural negotiations (recontextualising identity). The findings of this study reveal that plot structure represented the most common transformation category, followed by narrative technique, characterisation, and setting; thus, the remakes reflect the proliferation of strategic recalibrations by Hollywood filmmakers in pursuit of commercial and cultural resonance within American audiences. The study also indicates that remakes function not merely as adaptations but as forms of intersemiotic translation shaped by market logics, auteurial choices, and socio-cultural repositioning. It contributes to Translation Studies by illuminating the role of remakes in cultural negotiation, originality, repetition, and transnational cinematic exchange.

This study examines hybridity in translation through a case study of Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America . It analyzes how references to American and Iranian cultures are rendered in the Persian translation and how these choices shape the hybrid character of the text for different readerships. To this end, the English source text and its Persian translation are compared to identify the translation strategies applied to hybrid elements reflecting Iranian and American cultures. The findings show that material culture, such as food, clothing, housing, and transportation, constitutes the most prominent category of hybrid elements. Transference is the most frequently used strategy overall, particularly for elements reflecing American culture, indicating a predominantly foreignizing approach. In contrast, hybrid items reflecing Iranian culture are more often translated through cultural equivalence and reduction. Interpreted in light of Venuti’s (1995) concepts of domestication and foreignization, the results suggest that the translator preserves the hybrid nature of the memoir by maintaining the foreignness of American elements while reducing familiar Iranian ones.